Where tens of thousands of cars now whiz by each day on Interstate 290, once stood the Providence Street School No. 2 and the station house for Hose 2, at the foot of Providence Street at Posner Square.

Both made way in the 1960s for the expressway, which split neighbor from neighbor, and the faithful from their churches and synagogues.

In the case of the two buildings in our Then photo, the destruction was probably not a surprise.

The Providence Street School, an elementary school, was once one of two on the same lot. Its sister school, No. 1, was more than 20 years older and, just a few years before the older photo was taken, much talk surrounded demolishing that older Mansard-roofed structure to make more room for the remaining school, which was still in use.

The older schoolhouse was no longer in use as a school, only occasionally as a meeting place for civic groups.

All would be swept away by the building of the highway.

Like many a war memorial, Posner Square has seen a bit of shifting to accommodate construction since it was erected was in memory of World War I soldier Private Harry J. Posner. Mr. Posner was 22 when he was killed in Bordeaux, France, in 1918.

Providence Street no longer intersects with Grafton Street near Posner Square; it has been re-routed at the southern end into a U-turn.